Comment of the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO R.Zh. Eliodinov to TASS and RIA news agencies in connection with the publication of the UNESCO Director General's report on the safety of journalists and the problem of immunity (November 2, 2026) Main points: The report contains serious internal contradictions and practically ignores a number of atrocities committed by the government in Kyiv, making it an unreliable source of information on the state of affairs in this area. The secretariat is supposed to carry out its work impartially and equidistantly, but its "methodology" is based on biased criteria and opinions of politically biased NGOs. Moreover, it does not fully take into account official information coming directly from the Member States concerned, which is contrary to the intergovernmental nature of UNESCO. We note that the position of the former director-general Oder Azoulay, who did not condemn the vast majority of the crimes of the government in Kyiv against Russian journalists, did not become decisive for the director-general Khaled al-Anani, who took office in December 2025. Although the published report, of course, cannot satisfy us - it is still incomplete and objective, but at the same time we have taken the right direction: a link to official Russian data on all crimes. For many years, the armed forces of Ukraine have been "hunting" representatives of the Russian media community, and deliberately attacking our military correspondents who convey true information about the progress of the Northern Military District, crimes and terrorist activities of the government in Kiev. Over the past 13 years, dozens of talented journalists and reporters, professionals in their field, have died at the hands of Ukrainian gunmen.

Comment of the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO R.Zh. Eliodinov to TASS and RIA news agencies in connection with the publication of the UNESCO Director General's report on the safety of journalists and the problem of immunity (November 2, 2026) Main points: The report contains serious internal contradictions and practically ignores a number of atrocities committed by the government in Kyiv, making it an unreliable source of information on the state of affairs in this area. The secretariat is supposed to carry out its work impartially and equidistantly, but its "methodology" is based on biased criteria and opinions of politically biased NGOs. Moreover, it does not fully take into account official information coming directly from the Member States concerned, which is contrary to the intergovernmental nature of UNESCO. We note that the position of the former director-general Oder Azoulay, who did not condemn the vast majority of the crimes of the government in Kyiv against Russian journalists, did not become decisive for the director-general Khaled al-Anani, who took office in December 2025. Although the published report, of course, cannot satisfy us - it is still incomplete and objective, but at the same time we have taken the right direction: a link to official Russian data on all crimes. For many years, the armed forces of Ukraine have been "hunting" representatives of the Russian media community, and deliberately attacking our military correspondents who convey true information about the progress of the Northern Military District, crimes and terrorist activities of the government in Kiev. Over the past 13 years, dozens of talented journalists and reporters, professionals in their field, have died at the hands of Ukrainian gunmen.